I'm referring to the end of my walk on the Camino de Santiago when Enric and I visited a "miraculous healing" water fountain and both got sick in the same way (which I will not describe as it's too gross and you can use your imagination; needless to say it was an effective weight-loss program), after we had parted ways. I haven't heard but I hope he survived the Montserrat freeze unscathed.
On Thursday, after getting home at 2:00 am, we slept in, ate breakfast, checked out each others' documentaries and music videos, websurfed, had lunch, sat in the sun in the garden, played with a stray cat, and relaxed. So much for sight-seeing! But it was important to visit as well.
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| Neighbourhood cat. |
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| Enric soaking up the sun: January in Spain. |
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| How to really enjoy a vacation: I'm not frowning, I'm squinting in the winter sunshine! |
Then I caught a train to Barcelona to meet up with Florian and the two Lucs for the evening. On the way to meet them I came across the Sagrado Familia, a church of Tim Burton-like creepiness designed by Gaudi, inspired by the bizarre natural rock formations of Montserrat. I thought it was hideous in an appealing, Edward Scissor-hands kind of way, if that's possible.
I found the boys busy in an internet bar so I went shopping (a dangerous past-time in Barcelona this time of year!) and met them later. When the objective seemed to be to find cheap beer and wander around all night, I said goodbye and headed home. There had been some opportunities to hear music but I would have to look for those another time, since going to bars by yourself is not always fun or wise.
Friday was a much better day, consisting of a hike up the actual Montserrat itself.
Enric and I cheated and took a tram up to the monastery and then hiked the rest of the way to the summit, which was a pretty big undertaking unto itself. There was several routes leading to several symbolic and sacred places of note including a cave where the black virgin statue was found centuries ago. It now rests behind the altar inside the monastery cathedral.
Almost all the trails we followed had yellow Camino de Santiago markers, because Montserrat has been included in the Catalunyan branch of the Way of St. James. Once again, I found my Camino!
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| Again, that familiar symbol: the Camino de Santiago in Catalan. |
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| A very significant event: on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage on Montserrat, my Templar protector returns the hiking pole that helped others and was left behind when we both got sick from a healing fountain. We balance it on our fingers because it is important to lead a balanced life. |
Completely frozen, we quit Monserrat in time for the last train down the mountain, and warmed up at home with hot showers and music before heading out to a nearby town for a final dinner: a wine shop with a restaurant that served wine with cold dishes including vegetables, bread, and fine cheeses. A truly excellent idea.
At the beginning of this trip I said to Rien and Nico that I thought this journey was going to be like another Camino, only instead of walking I'd be taking the train every day. Sure enough, it did end up being very Camino-like, and several times I was actually on parts of the Way in Tirol and Catalunya. It was so important to me to be able to see my Camino friends again and develop those relationships further, and talk about our respective walking experiences a year-and-a-half later. Also, the Mozart conference in Salzburg allowed me to make new friends with whom I walked another journey - a musical one - as we learned about making music together and studied the life of one rare human being: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Now that I'm home I have a huge To Do list as a result of this trip:
- learn Spanish
- learn German
- improve my French
- play with other musicians more often
- return to Europe as soon as possible!
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